Splatter School is a 2D Action Platformer that has us play as Jessica, a regular high school student that has suddenly found herself facing nightmarish creatures. Luckily for her, she was in a safe location when her principal read a book that no mortal should and kicked this whole thing off. The rest of the students were not so fortunate, but armed only with a box-cutter and frightened to the core, Jessica didn’t exactly win the lotto here. Her only hope of escape is by going forward, with the ever-looming risk of meeting a very vicious death if she fails.
As frightened as her animations make her out to be, she is no pushover. She is able to fell any foe in the first two levels with a single blow, whether it be from a kick or her box-cutter. You’ll have access to two attack buttons. One will let you use a weapon you found, such as guns or rocks. Those are quite powerful, though will diminish after every hit, making them best suited for boss fights. They do disappear if you die, however, so make the best of them while you can. The basic attack button is the one you will be using the majority of the time. When you are standing you’ll use your boxcutter, ducking will have you throwing low kicks, and if you press it while jumping, Jessica will jump kick as if possessed by Bruce Lee. Each does the same amount of damage, yet some enemies are too short or too high up to reach with certain attacks.
There are five stages overall, each containing their own theme and will introduce new foes. I assumed your goal was to escape, but no, in fact you are going after the principal. After you reach him, I haven’t a bloody clue about what is happening. You will find no real form of plot here, things just sorta happen. Not that you have much if any time to ponder on things in-game as monsters try to end your life every couple of feet, and both natural & unnatural traps scatter the level. Jessica can take up to six hits before succumbing to her wounds. She will lose more and more clothing as she takes damage too. This is a hentai game after all. With that said, this is is a title that caters toward a certain fetish, one known as Guro.
Whatever monster takes your last hit-point will have his unique animation play out to abuse your character. This can range from vaginal penetration to having a giant worm force its way down your throat and peek out your anus. The latter far more extreme example is the norm here, taking up most of the 52 unique animations. If you are not into or comfortable with hardcore violence, SplatterSchool is a title you should keep well away from. Other animations include someone scooping out your eye socket with a kitchen knife then repeatedly thrusting his penis into it, getting impaled vagina to throat, and having your limbs twisted off, to name a few. The price for failure is high and after the second stage, I’d say it is a given most people will fail a couple of times as the difficulty ramps up.
I don’t mean that as a negative, it’s just a heads up if you are wondering just how far it goes. These animations are pretty well done and have a great deal of variety to them. Some of the sounds could have been better, yet Guro fans will have plenty to experience here. There are CGs too. These are a mixed bag as they can range from excellent to sub-par. Making matters much, much worse is how you obtain them. You’d think you would get one from the monster that has killed you. This is partly true. In order to receive the CG, you have to say no when asked to continue and get a game over. It is a complete pain in the backside to have to reach the point of the level where the enemy is found then lose all your progress before trying for another. There are 28 of them to see, so those are the number of times you have to purposely lose then replay a stage. Beating the title will not unlock them if you were wondering.
Mercifully, there is a save file included with the game to unlock everything. It is a solution, but unlocking CGs should not be that tedious. Moving on from that flaw, playing through every one of the five stages will take you around forty minutes. None of that feels like filler as they are constantly introducing new stuff and changing up the scenery. Gameplay while basic has a slight tactical feel to it, in large part due to how large the wind-up after attacking is. You are briefly vulnerable once you attack, so misjudging the range can be deadly. Jump kicks while awesome can only be done once while in the air, leaving you completely helpless until you reach the ground again. Timing is everything and while much easier than its inspiration called SplatterHouse, this is a fun combat system. You have infinite continues if you die, however doing well allows you to face a boss with a weapon in your possession.
Boss fights are no joke. Their difficulty varies wildly, yet all pose the greatest challenge you will be facing. That is where bringing a gun can be a game-changer instead of wasting it on the normal mobs. You have one try though, die in the battle and you’ll be facing him barehanded until you manage to defeat it. Each of them have their own ways of fighting and are all memorable. Most of their designs are solid to amazing as well. Right from the first boss I was both in awe and disturbed by the prospect of getting near that thing. Much of the regular enemies are just as threatening, ranging from your gaping mouths that inexplicably make up part of the floor to a vaginal looking fleshy slug.
This title is playable with a controller, granted it is D-input. Your Xbox controllers will not work here sadly. Neither will a fullscreen option, annoyingly enough. You’ll have stretch a window out to your preferred size and try to maintain the aspect ratio as to not stretch out the art. It has also not been translated to English, though the menus actually are English and there is no further text. The only problems you’ll have are when viewing the Dead Anime Mode you unlock after beating the game. It lets you freely view all of the death animations and is in Japanese. Each one is numbered and navigation is simple to understand, it is quite the minor hurdle for those that can’t read the language.
SplatterSchool brought back that same unnerving feeling I had when playing SplatterHouse as a kid. It takes things to eleven, leaving you both frightful and morbidly curious as to what lays ahead. The difference is this title is wholly unrestrained as a PC exclusive, taking things further than even those that are into horror are accustomed to. Jumping over a giant, gaping mouth never ceases to be tense as you know it will not pull any punches for your failure and will revel in it. Same thing when a student was flung from the roof with a noose around her neck and you discover that the urine she sprays out as she dies can damage you. Gameplay-wise it is nowhere near its inspiration, but it dwarfs it in shock value and sense of dread.
Whether these extremities is a positive or a negative depends on the person, such is the nature of Guro. What I can say is that there is a solid title backing this theme. The gameplay is fun, each level is memorable, and the difficulty is more than enough to satisfy those here for stuff other than hentai. If the lewd aspects are what you care about, there is a ton on offer here. This is challenging enough that I don’t believe those unfamiliar with the genre will be able to conquer these five stages without some time investment and practice. It does feature multiple checkpoints and unlimited continues for every stage, making it friendlier to approach, but no less difficult. More so when it comes to boss fights. Your other option would be to install the 100% save and skip the gameplay entirely. It is a valid option as there is enough H to justify the 13 dollar cost, in my opinion. That would be a shame, however. SplatterSchool has as much to offer in the gameplay department to serve up some good fun that you’ll want to see through until the end.
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